September Program – Karen Chin -A Dung’s Eye View of Dinosaur Life in the Cretaceous Period

Studies of 75-million-year-old coprolites (fossil feces) from Montana and Utah reveal that some plant-eating dinosaurs periodically consumed foods we would not expect giant herbivores to eat.  This talk will describe the fossil evidence for this unexpected discovery and how it changes our understanding of dinosaur paleobiology.   

Brief bio:

Karen Chin is a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado Boulder.  She began her career in paleontology working with dinosaur paleontologist Jack Horner at the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University.  She later received her doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara where she studied with paleobotanist Bruce Tiffney.  Dr. Chin studies Mesozoic ecosystems — mostly through analysis of fossil feces (coprolites) and burrows.  She is particularly interested in ancient symbiotic relationships, trophic interactions, nutrient cycling processes, evidence for paleoenvironmental conditions, and the taphonomic processes that constrain our understanding of ancient ecosystems.